Posts Tagged ‘guilty’
DEAD RUSSIAN LAWYER MAGNITSKY FOUND GUILTY
More than three years after he died in prison, whistle-blowing Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was found guilty of tax evasion by a Moscow court Wednesday.
The posthumous trial of Magnitsky was a macabre chapter in a case that ignited a high-emotion dispute between Russia and Washington that has included U.S. sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators, a ban on the adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens and calls for the closure of Russian non-governmental organizations receiving American funding.
Magnitsky was a lawyer for U.S.-born British investor William Browder when he alleged in 2008 that organized criminals colluded with corrupt Interior Ministry officials to claim a fraudulent $230 million tax rebate after illegally seizing subsidiaries of Browder’s Hermitage Capital investment company.
He subsequently was arrested on tax evasion charges and died in prison in November 2009 of untreated pancreatitis at age 37.
His death prompted widespread criticism from human rights activists and the presidential human rights council found in 2011 that he had been beaten and deliberately denied medical treatment.
Announcing his verdict Thursday, Judge Igor Alisov said “Magnitsky masterminded a massive tax evasion scheme in a … conspiracy with a group of people,” according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
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Russia finds Magnitsky posthumously guilty of fraud
The late Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky has been found guilty of tax fraud by a Moscow court.
Magnitsky was arrested in 2008 after accusing officials of tax fraud, but was later himself accused of the crime.
His death in custody a year later led to a major diplomatic dispute between Russia and the United States.
In the same trial, William Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital Management which Magnitsky represented, was also found guilty of tax fraud.
Browder was convicted in absentia, and sentenced to nine years.
The London-based hedge fund manager has denied the charges and said the trial was politically motivated. His defence team have said they will appeal against the verdict.
In a statement, he said the verdict “will go down in history as one of the most shameful moments for Russia since the days of Joseph Stalin”.
“The desperation behind this move shows the lengths that Putin is ready to go and to retaliate against anyone who expose the stealing and corruption he presides over,” he said.
No sentence will be passed for Magnitsky, whose relatives regard the case as illegal.
A lawyer for the family told Russia’s Rapsi news agency: “I did not doubt that the decision would look like this.”
“I know that he committed no crimes.”
It is believed to be the first time in Soviet or Russian history that a defendant was tried posthumously.
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